Gannett Building facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Gannett Building
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The Gannett Building in September 2017
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | 55 Exchange St., Rochester, New York |
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1927 |
| Architect | Howell & Thomas |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| MPS | Inner Loop MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 85002862 |
| Added to NRHP | October 4, 1985 |
The Gannett Building is an old and important building in Rochester, New York. It was built in 1927 in a style called Classical Revival. Over the years, four more parts were added to it.
This building was made to be the main office and printing place for Gannett Newspapers. This was a very famous newspaper company around the world.
One special part of the building is a sculpture above the main entrance on its east side. A famous Italian artist named Edmond Amateis created it. The main figure in the middle is "Truth," protecting a special flame of knowledge. On the left, you can see figures for "Fine Arts" and "Industry." On the right, there are figures for "Law" and "Agriculture."
Building History
A five-story part was added in 1949. It was designed by Albert Kahn. This section held the big printing presses for newspapers. The presses stayed there until 1996 when they moved to Greece.
The Gannett Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It was the main office for Gannett around the world until 1986.
The building also used to be home to the local newspaper, Democrat and Chronicle. This was one of the biggest papers in the Gannett company. It was there from 1959 until 2016. Another old Gannett newspaper, The Times-Union, was also in the building from the start until it stopped printing in 1996.
In 2014, Gannett announced they would sell the building. The Democrat and Chronicle newspaper would move to a new, smaller office. The Gannett Building is very large, about 153,350 square feet. The new office is much smaller, only 42,000 square feet.
Newspapers don't need as much space now because more news is online. Also, the old building, especially the part where the presses were, costs a lot to keep up. The Democrat and Chronicle moved to its new place on May 2, 2016.
Future Plans
After the Democrat and Chronicle moved out, people started planning for the Gannett Building's future. Developers want to fix up the building to be offices for many different companies.
They are also thinking about using the basement for parking cars. This parking could connect to the old Rochester Subway tunnels. These tunnels have two doors that were once used to bring paper for the presses into the building. These doors could become entrances and exits for cars.
The building has large, open floors, which makes it good for offices. Other ideas for the building include having some homes and shops on the ground floor.
